Thanks for that - I snorted sweet tea out my nose. There needs to be an “lol-owie” smiley.
I don’t bless anyone, or agree to say prayers. I don’t tend to pray in difficult situations, although when a wonderful woman who was a believer died recently, I did say something like “if there’s a heaven, if you exist, please take care of her” to myself.
I’m an atheist, but I say bless you after someone sneezes, or gesundheit 50/50. I also use religious words when I swear, because swearing is meant to be offensive and blasphemy offends.
It wouldn’t occur to me to beg god for help if I was in a lot of pain. Given my personality, if I were in a lot of pain and a believer, I’d be more likely to tell god he’s a asshole for allowing such pain to exist.
The one time when I wish I had something better to say is when I’m trying to comfort someone. It would be nice to have something like “God, bless you,” that I could sincerely say to someone who is suffering, but other than that I don’t think about it much.
I’m a convert (Christian to atheist) and was, for a time, even a Presbyterian Elder! I was an unbeliever then too, though desperately trying to believe.
I find myself saying those things almost in a childish way like when you first get to say those swear words around your parents. It’s immature but, hey. So am I, I guess.
For me, I’m a “goddammit!” user and use Christ— (fill in the blanks) a lot. I will also reflexively pray when a crisis emerges and don’t know how to stop that one yet.
I heard Penn Jillette say he actually punished his daughter when she used something like the OMG thing. He used to use the swear words (Goddammit, et al) but them made the effort to not say them and take the meaning out of them. If he had no belief, he figured, he shouldn’t use it. Why would I say something like “Jumping Mike Miller in a pogo stick!” They mean nothing.
It’s an interesting thing and I’ve considered it a lot recently. I guess the words - like the religion - are just something we fall back on without really thinking it through.
Abraham Lincoln once told a heckler, “Your vocabulary is mean and impoverished, but quite adequate to express your thoughts.” I used that once–successfully–as a put-down line myself. 
Our very existence is an affront.
Is it? Seems a tad overdramatic.
So did Doggo’s reaction to this thread.
Really? A statement that “nobody really knows what happens after death and therefore we should let people believe what they want” is just as dramatic as “Our very existence is an affront”? You’ve got a pretty low bar for drama.
Nice edit, but the quote is:
, complete with exclamation mark. Also the comment was apropros of nothing that was being said in this thread, so yeah I’m calling it overly dramatic.
I say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes, ‘Jesus Christ’ when I’m frustrated, ‘heaven forbid’ if I’m talking about something bad that couldn happen, ‘Thank God’ when something turns out ok after a close shave…
It’s ceremonial deism.
Surely you know that atheists are preventing Christians singing carols in schools or have Christmas trees in public areas.
The latest atrocity is banning the Battle of the Bulge memorial because it has a tree with lights.
How does that prevent Christians (or any other faith) from believing what they want to?
None of those are an example of “an atheist not letting somebody believe whatever they wish to”. They are all examples of “not letting government-funded facilities endorse a specific religion”. Which is not remotely the same thing.
Personally I don’t get that worked up about it as long as it’s just the ceremonial trimmings of a religion and not actual pressure to conform to that religion’s precepts, but I certainly understand why it bothers other people who see it as the thin end of a very large wedge that some Christians take great delight in pushing as far as possible.
I’m a rather anti-religion atheist, but I’ll say things like “oh my God” or “for God’s sake”. I rarely use the word “bless” (saying “bless you” to people who sneeze feels weird to me, but people expect it, so I do it) and I don’t talk directly to God (“please God…”), because again, it’s weird.
How do you know atheists are responsible for that? There are a lot of other people out there who aren’t atheists, and aren’t happy with overt displays of Christian imagery by their government. A lot of them are even Christians.
Did you read about what happened to the nativity-scene displays in the parks in Santa Monica? They had been a tradition for years…and it wasn’t Billy Graham who had them removed.
Yeah, I heard they were moved to private property…as is appropriate.
It is for me because The Simpsons is my Bible. 
I did read about that. Did you? Because here’s what happened.
An atheist set up a pro-atheist display on public property, adjacent to the Nativity scenes, and the Christian community went ape-shit. Fed up with the complaints from Christians, but legally unable to bar only atheists from public property, the city threw up its hands and banned all displays from public property. In the resulting lawsuit over the subject, no atheists were named. It was a lawsuit between Christian groups, and the government of Santa Monica.
So, while I don’t believe that Rev. Graham was personally involved in the issue, it was Christians of his particular stripe who were directly responsible for getting nativity scenes banned in Santa Monica.